Mending the Fractured Economy

The final report of the Adonis Review, Mending the Fractured Economy: Smarter State, Better Jobs, sets out reforms to boost innovation, tackle skills shortages and address youth unemployment, support growth companies, and empower city and county regions. Speaking ahead of the launch of the report at a visit to a manufacturing business in Leeds, Lord Adonis said:

“My review has a simple goal: creating better jobs in your area.

“Britain’s industrial revolution changed the world. Innovation in technology, production and manufacturing transformed the lives of millions, first in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, and other towns and cities, and then beyond our borders. Having once led the world, Britain is struggling to keep up.

“On education, infrastructure, regional growth, productivity and living standards, the UK lags much of Europe and North America. Having once been the world’s dynamo of new products, ideas and processes, British firms struggle to grow, find the skilled workers they require, and export.

“Growth is unbalanced. The link between growth and living standards has been broken, exports are weak, young people widely lack the opportunities they deserve and inequality is vast, both between people and between regions.

“Whitehall needs to hand down budgets and powers for this purpose – not just talk about handing them down, as the Coalition has done since the Heseltine Report. England’s business leaders and local governments need empowering to invest in infrastructure, skills and economic development.

“While big numbers dominate discussions about economic growth, the real story exists in the company, or the cluster, or the school, or the city.

“My overriding aim is to promote a smarter, not a more expensive, state. We need to build on the best of Britain and be optimistic that the best is yet to come.”